Some vehicles, including passenger ears and trucks, use single-piston hydraulic brake systems for vehicle deceleration. Some vehicles use electromechanical parking brake systems that utilize the same single-piston brake systems to maintain the vehicle in a stopped or parked position. These electromechanical parking brake systems typically have a motor gear unit that generates a sufficient torque to move the single piston and, therefore, one or more brake pads against a brake rotor to create a clamping force to maintain the vehicle in a stopped or parked position.
Other vehicles, like full-size trucks, vans, and SUVs, use multi-piston hydraulic brake systems for vehicle deceleration, and separate parking brake systems for maintaining the vehicle in a stopped or parked position.
To improve parking brake performance, while also reducing weight, costs, and packaging space, in some vehicle platforms, it may be desirable to have, parking brake systems that utilize the existing multi-piston brake systems. It may be desirable to have a parking brake system that utilizes an existing multi-piston brake system without requiring a super high output motor to move the pistons and the brake pads against a brake rotor to create the clamping force. For example, it may be attractive to have a parking brake system for a heavy-duty vehicle platform having multi-piston brake systems that can use a motor from a light-duty vehicle platform to sufficiently move the pistons and brake pads against the brake rotor to create a sufficient clamping force to maintain the vehicle in a stopped or parked position.